Human Impact Project

Carlos Arreaga, a Syracuse resident and active community member for eight years, was taken into ICE custody on the morning of June 26 while on his way to work, without a warrant, according to his family's GoFundMe page. He had filed for asylum in the U.S. and was held at the federal detention facility in Batavia, which has faced criticism for overcrowding and poor conditions. Despite a federal judge's order that he receive a bond hearing, Arreaga was repeatedly denied bond. His wife, Amelia, launched a fundraiser to cover legal fees and living expenses after his detention left the family without its sole breadwinner, and about 70 community members gathered at a vigil in Syracuse calling for his release. After roughly three months in detention, Arreaga was released and reunited with his family.

Leonardo 'Leo' Garcia Venegas, a 25-year-old U.S.-born citizen of Mexican descent working construction in Baldwin County, Alabama, was detained by immigration agents multiple times beginning in May 2025 despite presenting a valid Alabama REAL ID. In the first incident, armed agents raided a Foley construction site, tackled his undocumented brother, and held Garcia Venegas handcuffed for over an hour after he began filming and asserted his citizenship; his brother was later deported. Weeks later, agents detained him again at another job site, again dismissing his ID as fake despite him also providing his Social Security card. In a third encounter, officers followed him home, pulled him from his vehicle, tackled him, and shackled him. Never charged with a crime, Garcia Venegas testified before Congress saying 'I don't feel free,' and filed a federal lawsuit with the Institute for Justice against DHS officials, including Tom Homan and Kristi Noem, alleging Fourth Amendment violations, assault, battery, and false arrest. A federal judge in the Southern District of Alabama denied the government's motion to dismiss and temporarily halted warrantless construction-site raids, a ruling Garcia Venegas called 'a huge blow to lawless enforcement practices.'

On August 19, 2025, ICE agents stopped two vans carrying construction workers on Interstate 99 and Route 220 near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, as they traveled to a job building the Mount Nittany Medical Center patient tower. ICE confirmed 24 arrests in what it called a 'targeted enforcement operation,' though immigrant rights groups said as many as 26 men — nationals of Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras — were taken into custody. A foreman driving some workers from their motel said he was pulled over by two unmarked vehicles, and witnesses said agents confiscated phones, questioned workers about their origins and work permits, and restrained them before detention, with some reportedly holding valid work permits and identification. The men were transferred to Pike County Correctional Facility, Clinton County Correctional Facility, and Moshannon Valley Processing Center. A state representative and local advocacy groups said they struggled for a week to obtain basic information about the detainees and raised due process concerns, including allegations some were coerced into signing self-deportation orders. Community organizers described the men as 'partners, sons, brothers and fathers,' saying the arrests disrupted households in the community.

Roberto Mosquera del Peral, a 59-year-old Cuban immigrant who arrived in the U.S. as a child during the 1980 Mariel boatlift and worked as a plumber while raising four daughters, was detained by ICE at a routine immigration appointment and held at the Krome detention center in Florida. He had a criminal record but had already served his sentence in the U.S.; because Cuba has refused to accept his return for nearly three decades, he was flown from Texas and deported without his consent to Eswatini under the Trump administration's third-country deportation program. He has since been held over a year in a maximum-security cell at Matsapha Correctional Complex without being charged with any offense or given access to legal counsel, according to his lawyer, Alma David. He staged a 30-day hunger strike that raised serious health concerns to win small concessions such as wearing his own clothes and having a cellphone to contact family. He does not know if or when he will be released, has missed the deaths of his oldest sister and best friend in America, and will miss his daughter's upcoming wedding. Civic groups in Eswatini have filed court cases challenging the legality of detaining him and other deportees without charge.

A single mother in La Marque, Texas, was detained by ICE, leaving her three children, including two minors ages 11 and 14, without their primary caregiver. Her eldest daughter, 21, is now caring for her younger siblings while the family raises funds for an immigration lawyer to fight the case and help their mother remain with them. The family describes her as a hardworking, loving mother with no prior criminal record who has always provided for her children.

Rabbiatu Kuyateh, a Sierra Leonean nurse who had lived in the United States for nearly 30 years, was detained during a routine ICE check-in in July 2025 and placed on a deportation flight with 18 other people. She was sent to Ghana, a country she had no ties to, and was then transferred onward to Sierra Leone after arriving there. Kuyateh had raised her U.S.-born son, Mohamed, and cared for her parents, and said of her destination, "Ghana? I'm not from Ghana; what am I going to do there?" The First Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled on September 18, 2026, in D.V.D. v. Department of Homeland Security, that the government could not carry out third-country deportations like hers without advance notice and a meaningful chance to challenge the destination, halting such removals while further review proceeds.

A mother of a family in Port Isabel, Texas, is being detained by ICE after living in the U.S. for more than 20 years. Her daughter describes her as a loving, hard-working caretaker with no prior criminal record, not even a traffic violation. The family launched a fundraiser to help cover immigration legal expenses and household costs while she remains in detention.

Vianney, who has lived in the United States for 28 years, was detained by ICE in the Tacoma-Seattle area on September 18 and is now being held pending deportation. He is described as deeply rooted in his community both socially and professionally. His wife Edith and their three children, ages 20, 18, and 16, are seeking legal help to understand their options and pursue possible action to halt his deportation.

María, a 35-year-old Indigenous Mixtec farmworker from Oaxaca who has lived in Oxnard, California since 2007, is a single mother of four U.S.-born children ages 17, 12, 10 and 2. She was detained by ICE agents after questioning why they were arresting a friend who was driving her to look for farm work; agents told her she would be arrested for 'asking questions and complaining' and took her to ICE facilities in Camarillo and then Thousand Oaks, where she was told she might spend three months in detention before deportation. She was released after seven hours with an ankle monitor and a phone app tracking required check-ins, after agents warned that missing an appointment would result in her entire family being deported. An activist who met her after release said she lives in an apartment complex where ICE agents regularly wait outside for immigrants to leave, and an advocate who helped her access legal assistance described her release as an unusual outcome.

Jefferson, a Venezuelan asylum seeker and father of two, has spent months detained at the Don Hutto detention center in Texas, separated from his wife and children. Speaking with his wife by video call, he described the facility's living conditions and lack of access to healthcare. A local pastor who meets weekly with families of detainees said roughly one in four families in her congregation has had a loved one arrested and deported.

Walto Deshommes, a Haitian father, was detained by ICE agents just outside a North Park Head Start daycare in San Diego moments after walking his 2-year-old daughter into her classroom. A family advocate said the arrest occurred off school grounds, and Deshommes managed to throw his car keys and ID to daycare staff as he was taken into custody. Staff at the center, operated by the Neighborhood House Association, followed emergency procedures to hand the toddler off to a designated contact. Deshommes and his partner, Suze, had been living in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status until the Trump administration ended TPS for Haitians in July following a Supreme Court ruling; both have pending asylum cases with an upcoming immigration court date. Suze said she remains committed to appearing at that court date despite facing the process without Deshommes. A family advocate said the arrest reflects a recent trend of ICE targeting Haitians who have fallen out of status but still have pending cases.

Bryan Sanjose was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California, on September 5, 2026, while preparing to board a flight with a friend. A friend said the detention was related to his immigration status and records. Bryan serves as the primary caretaker for his mother, who lives with dementia and Alzheimer's and cannot care for herself independently. His family launched a GoFundMe campaign titled "Help Bryan and His Mother" to raise funds for his legal costs and his mother's care needs while he remains in custody.

A Durham family, including children ages 11 and 6, was detained after what advocates described as a routine asylum appointment in Charlotte and deported to Honduras within 72 hours, according to ABC11. The Department of Homeland Security disputed the advocates' account, saying the family had received due process and had no pending asylum claims or immigration applications.

A 34-year-old Mexican national who had lived in Flagstaff with his family for at least two years was detained by ICE agents outside his apartment on East Cortland Boulevard as he was preparing to take his two children to school, according to family spokesperson Maria Castillo Rincon. He was transported to Phoenix shortly after. ICE then called his wife, a 32-year-old Mexican national, and told her that if she did not turn herself in at Phoenix, agents would raid her home; she and her two children, ages 14 and 7, drove to Phoenix and self-deported that same day. The family had sought asylum after fleeing violence in Mexico, but a judge denied their application and issued a deportation notice; Castillo Rincon said ICE had originally intended to detain a different family member, and local police and county officials said they were unaware of the operation, which included agents staging at Fort Tuthill County Park, until learning of it through social media.

Xavier Jordán, an Ecuadorian businessman accused by Ecuadorian prosecutors of being an intellectual author and financier of the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on September 16, 2026 at an intersection in Doral, Florida. Video circulated on social media showing masked agents taking Jordán into custody, and his wife was also detained during the operation. His lawyer, Juan Carlos Salazar, said Jordán had applied for asylum, had a hearing scheduled for the following May, had been legally residing in the U.S., and said the Interpol red notice against him was not active. DHS said Jordán entered the U.S. on February 3, 2020 with authorization to stay until August 2, 2020, overstayed by more than six years, and cited a prior criminal record and an outstanding Ecuadorian arrest warrant. He is one of seven people charged in Ecuador in connection with Villavicencio's killing, which occurred after a campaign rally in Quito in August 2023; prosecutors allege Jordán orchestrated the assassination to protect economic interests tied to slain drug trafficker Leandro Norero. He remains in ICE custody at the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, as deportation proceedings continue.

Anastasio Tomas, a 16-year-old student at Chattanooga Preparatory School who had lived in the U.S. since age six, was deported to Guatemala along with his mother, Maria Vasquez-Mazariegos, and another family member after ICE arrested them on September 16, 2026 in Chattanooga. Tomas said agents stopped the family on their way to school, did not give them a chance to explain their immigration case or speak with a lawyer, and falsely told them they were being taken to see a judge. ICE said the family had received a final removal order in 2019 and had not left the country. A GoFundMe campaign, which received a $2,000 donation from Chattanooga Prep's founders, is raising money for legal fees to help Tomas return to finish his education.

A Venezuelan legal permanent resident who operates a food truck with his son in Miami-Dade was repeatedly confronted by a man posing as a high-ranking ICE official, according to a federal complaint. Jonathan Christian Gonzalez Reyes, a 45-year-old Colombian national, allegedly used a badge, firearm, and a vehicle equipped with police-style lights to convince the victim he worked for ICE, then offered to help with immigration issues in exchange for money. When the victim refused, Gonzalez Reyes allegedly threatened to plant drugs in the food truck and pistol-whip the operator's son, prompting the victim to call police. He was later identified through a photo lineup and vehicle registration records, and has been charged with falsely impersonating a federal officer.

Cece Mokua, a 29-year-old pregnant Kenyan asylum applicant living in Spokane with her husband, Humphrey Oyoo, and their 1-year-old son, was detained by ICE agents while attending what she believed was a scheduled asylum interview with USCIS in Tukwila, WA, after the couple traveled five hours from Spokane. While Oyoo was delayed at a ground-floor metal detector with their child's stroller, Mokua was called upstairs, led into a separate room by an unidentified officer who did not show documents, and taken out a back door; Oyoo waited for hours unaware she had already been transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. She said she experienced contractions and a migraine in custody, was given only a doctor's note for a bottom bunk, and was released after roughly 36 hours without explanation for either her detention or release. She remains in deportation proceedings with an ankle monitor and a scheduled ICE check-in in Spokane; ICE has since pointed to a 2023 traffic stop in which she was charged with driving under the influence as a basis for the arrest. Mokua came to the U.S. legally as a teenager fleeing female genital mutilation but later fell out of legal status. Supporters, including the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Defend Migrants Alliance, said ICE has used USCIS appointments as a basis for similar arrests in other cases.

Ydienays Dariana Dominguez, 26, and her six-year-old daughter Zoeh were detained by ICE agents during what the family believed was a routine immigration check-in in Charlotte. The family had lived in the U.S. since 2024, where Ydienays's husband Anderson works as a barber, Ydienays worked at a warehouse, and Zoeh had just started first grade at Sugar Creek Charter School. Their removal order stemmed from a July 9 virtual immigration hearing that a judge failed to attend, after which an advisor who was supposed to file an appeal never submitted it. Anderson said an ICE officer initially indicated the pair would be transferred to Texas, but he later learned they had been deported to Venezuela before their attorney could file a motion to reopen the case, and he said he could not reach his wife or daughter for nearly two days. Anderson started a GoFundMe to help the family rebuild, and advocacy group Siembra NC organized a press conference, with State Rep. Julia Greenfield saying the family did not receive due process before being removed.

Sergio Ivan Chaparro Ayala, a longtime shift supervisor at Oceanview Diner in Berkeley who lives in Richmond and supports two children, was detained by federal immigration agents at Oakland International Airport on August 28, 2026, while preparing to board a flight to Las Vegas for an anniversary trip with his partner, Estefani Montes. Chaparro, who entered the U.S. on a tourist visa that expired in 2020, has no criminal record and suffers from severe sleep apnea requiring a CPAP machine; he was moved between several detention facilities in California and Washington state, and Montes struggled to get him access to his medical equipment. Restaurant co-owner Will Bishop described him as friendly and well-liked by customers and coworkers. Attorneys from Centro Legal de la Raza filed a habeas corpus petition arguing his detention violated due process, and a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order ordering his immediate release and barring ICE from re-detaining him without a hearing before a neutral decisionmaker. Coworkers and community members raised more than $25,000 through a GoFundMe to cover his legal costs, and a preliminary injunction hearing was scheduled for September 15, 2026.